It will have become clear from the contents of this book that preparing a dissertation or thesis for submission for an academic award is a mixture of traditional practice, visual taste, common sense and meeting the requirements in regulations. To the inexperienced research reporter, all or any of these can be more than a little obscure and, if not obscure, at least pedantic. This book,...

Many institutions, national bodies, academic awards and so on are commonly known by their acronyms or the initials of the full title. While such acronyms or abbreviations are acceptable within the text of the dissertation, the name or title is written out in full the first time it occurs so that it is properly identified. Abbreviations other than those referred to above are not normally employed...

Pages are numbered consecutively throughout the whole of the dissertation. Pages are given arabic numerals. The exception to this rule is the title page which, although technically designated page 1, is not actually numbered. Appendices (such as off-prints of articles) that have been previously page-numbered in their publications, are re-numbered within the sequence in which they are presented...

Page margins allow for the sewing and trimming during the binding of the dissertation. The visual appearance of the page is also dependent upon the proportion of the text area to margin area. Margins must be consistent throughout the dissertation. The most appropriate margins for the A4 paper size are: (i) Top and right-hand margins 20mm (ii) Left-hand margins (the spine of the book) 40mm (iii)...

The Occasionally, an item to be included either in the text or as an appendix, such as a table or a diagram, which cannot be reduced, requires a page size larger than A4. While maintaining the normal vertical dimension, the paper may be folded as shown in Figure 6. To avoid being cut during the binding stage of the dissertation, the fold must not be more than 195mm from the left-hand edge of the...